Has anyone lived in a house with an electric storage heating system?

Or have any experience of them? Looking at buying a house that doesn't have, or the option to install, gas and this is one of our concerns.

Cheers

 

I haven't, but my wife has. The house was cold and damp. I'm sure that isn't always the case and other people will have had better experiences, but I can only speak from my own. It is, however, the most expensive way to heat your home. I think that's a fact rather than an opinion.

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Heating-and-hot-water/Improving-electric-systems

Even if you can't have mains gas it doesn't mean you are stuck with electricity. You could get an LPG system or oil, or get a dual system incorporating solar, or even (whisper this quietly) coal. It still exists, my dad sells thousands of tonnes of it, and people are converting back to it all the time. You can't beat an open coal fire. Or what about this:

http://www.iceenergy.co.uk/Dont-buy-an-oil-boiler-1?gclid=CIa4ib38gbsCFUn3wgodxGsA0A

 

In one at the moment, what do you wanna know?

 

Electric is the most expensive to run, but cheapest to install.

 

Main questions are is it cold, are they programmable, and what's the supply of hot water like (we're used to an on demand combo boiler!)?

 

Thanks Jay, will look at those, although I don't think coal would be an option (its a very unique 60s/70s development that had a specialist heating system which never worked so has no fire place etc)

 

I've got coal in my 'new' house. It's a right pain in the arse. Although I'm not sure if it's the multi fuel burner or the fact it's the least insulated house in the entire World.

 

Yes. Awful systems. You have to kind of plan ahead when you think you will need heat. They don't actually give off much heat while they are warming up (or ours didn't) so you need the heat to be already stored when you need it. If that makes sense.

 

The versatility of them are **** poor, they heat up on low peak (think economy 7 or 10) then release the heat throughout the day. However you can't control how much and when so chances are the house is too warm in a morning and cool at night, when you need it the most!!

We have a dual immersion water heater which you can leave to heat up at the low peak times, this is usually enough water for us (2 adults and a nipper). Problem is if someone wants a bath as that will take most of the water. There is an override switch that can top up the heat on the on peak times.

Yes it's expensive to run too. We pay around £90 a month but when we're not paying gas as well it kinda is affordable.

We looked at putting a wet system in but the initial outlay is in the 000's so that limits your options. There are grants available if your income is low or you can enter into the Warm Front scheme which I'd avoid as you're financing any new kit over 25 years.

At the moment I'm pricing up an electric central heating system. A digitally controlled thermostat for the water and radiators, made by Rointe in Spain. Looking like about £1500 all in with much lower operating costs with the added bonus of being able to control the heat output.

Hope this helps!!!

 

What problems you having?

 

Thanks Norfolk Red, it is helpful. Property is expensive in York and so you have to compromise on something. This development is in beautiful grounds and the house is a really good size and layout but I'm conscious if your house is difficult to heat you'll end up miserable, so just trying to make a decision with my eyes wide open

 

Speak to Transco, they'll give you an idea how much getting mains gas to the property is. You then can put a wet system in.

Or try oil.

Or an air / ground source heat pump.

Or LPG.

 

Only taking the piss, our problem is not the system but the house. It's a multi fuel stove we've got in the cellar that's our hot water & heating with an electric immersion for the water. The stove needs a service but does knock some incredible heat out, the problem is that it's in a room that has single pane glass/door and our windows are older than me.

Which company is your Dad's? I'll start getting our coal from him instead.

 

Re: I would second 'heat pump'

.....Quite expensive to install but even though electric it is cheaper to run. Re installation, I think you mentioned the property has extensive grounds so it could save installation costs as you can have a horizontal trench dug round the perimeter rather than having to did a deep bore hole (which is a considerable part of the intitial cost). If you don't have mains sewage you can even loop it round the tank to recover heat lost from the waste water

We moved to rural Italy and GPL is expensive so we wanted a heat pump having quite a large area to run the coils . Unfortunately as we have can only a 6kw supply for the entire property the compressor would peak (spike) at around 12kw for a system to heat our property each time it 'kicks in'. Given our lights dim every time we turn the oven on or even a 2kw portable induction hob we would trip out everytime it came on! We use woodstoves (one is an Esse Ironheart which we cook quite a lot on when it is really cold (3 inches of snow here as I speak although very unusual for central Italy in November).

As gas gets more expensive, unless wood pellet or wood gasification takes off in UK like it seem to be doing on the continent and given the fact that solar in UK is still expensive ( and you don't get that much sun ) it is worth a good look at Heat pumps.

No way I would give storage radiators house space!

 

http://www.yell.com/biz/j-brown-and-son-barnsley-948933/

There'll probably be a minimum order for him to come to Wombwell. Probably half a ton.

 

Wombwell? Pah! I'm Locke Park loyal now, mate.

 

Live close to me then.

You'll not need to order half a tonne then. Give him a ring, if he's more expensive than you're already paying, stick with your current supplier. Although it might be worth trying him once to see exactly what the amount you order should look like. Lost count of the number of times we've gone to places, when I used to work there, who have told us we'll easily get half a tonne in their bunkers (10 bags) and we've filled it to the brim with 6. "I can't understand it" they say. We can, they've had 10 bags delivered before, but 10 massively underweight bags. Not all coal merchants are like that, there's some very honest ones, but there's also some cowboys.

 

Just had a load delivered this morning, use someone out Royston. Will give him a bell next time. Cheers.

 

He's a lifelong Barnsley fan and season ticket holder so you'll be able to sell him a fanzine. Although if it's Frank that delivers it you won't, but if it is give him a message from me, tell him, "Jamie says you're a fat b'astard."

 

My girlfriend had one in her house for 3rd year at Uni and it was awful.

Had to plan when you wanted to be warm, then when it finished that was it for being warm for a few hours untill it 're-charged'.

Cost an absolute fortune too.